Deputy Premier Minister of Finance Minister of Infrastructure Minister Responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation
Caroline Wawzonek was first elected to the 19th Legislative Assembly in 2019 as the Member for Yellowknife South. Ms. Wawzonek served as Minister of Justice, Minster of Finance, Minister responsible for the Status of Women and the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. In 2023, Ms. Wawzonek was acclaimed to the 20th Legislative Assembly and returned to Executive Council as Deputy Premier, Minister of Finance, Minister of Infrastructure and the Minister Responsible for the NWT Power Corporation.
Ms. Wawzonek holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Calgary (2000) and a law degree from the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law (2005). Her academic journey included language studies in China and Taiwan, as well as legal internships in the Philippines and England. Born in Calgary, AB, she has called Yellowknife home since 2007.
After establishing her criminal law practice post-admission to the Law Society of the NWT, Ms. Wawzonek appeared in all levels of NWT courts and engaged in circuit court travel. She later joined Dragon Toner, expanding her practice to general litigation and administrative law until becoming a member of the 19th Assembly.
Since 2007, she has taken on leadership roles in the legal community, including the presidency of the Law Society of the Northwest Territories (LSNT), section chair for the Canadian Bar Association Northwest Territories Branch (CBA-NT), and committee membership in various working groups. Her community involvement extends to appointments in multiple Yellowknife organizations, and she received a national award in 2017 for her contributions to Canadian Women in Law.
Ms. Wawzonek, a mother of two, enjoys running, paddleboarding, and time outdoors.
There we go. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I've lost my train of thought with all the physical activity there. But so it is a SEED program. There's a SEED directive that was issued back in the summer. The SEED directive provides details on eligibility and application process. I believe the application form is online if I'm not mistaken. And that application and that SEED directive is effective until March 31st of this year. This is the first chance given the election for us to come forward and seek a supplementary appropriation for funding that would have been received from CanNor. The Department of...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 11)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I mean, in this exact moment we are compliant, but depending on where the final numbers come in at the end of the fiscal year and all reconciliations and accountings are complete, if we are running a deficit there could become you do a complete calculation in terms of the available balance for the to provide for the 50 percent of capital funding. If the deficit becomes too significant, there is a risk that we would be offside of that in terms of not meeting the 50 percent. However, within that policy, there is a twoyear timeline within which, if there is an...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd be more than happy to report back. I can say certainly beginning in the last government, I had an opportunity to have some Saskatchewan Research Council folks meet with members of our government, senior officials. I'd like to follow up on that work myself. I do know the GNWT is a part of a federal, provincial, territorial SMI working group that's led by Enercan or Natural Resources Canada. So we do have our finger on the pulse of what's happening but, again, a bit of pressure never hurts to be making sure that we are at the forefront of those...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 11)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we certainly do have the trends tracked since 20192020. I can share that with the Members if that's of interest.
There is a significant growth in the last couple of years, and I would say that that does track with what's being seen, I believe, over in the Department of Health and Social Services as well. One of the most significant impacts we've seen has been as a result of dental appointments which postCOVID so, again, looking at the last two years and it's postCOVID is the dental services in communities and regions have not been reestablished, and that has...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 11)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On March 1st there will be increased foster care rates coming in determined after historically similar to looking at CPI. So with CPI being high, the rates go up. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 11)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think so.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 11)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I mean, again, Mr. Chair, the supplementary estimate process is one where we do main estimates as one part of the budgeting cycle, and then when there are additional unforeseen costs that arise throughout the fiscal year you would come back to the House for a supplementary appropriation. And I would think that the example of a bad fire season is often used as an example of when the government comes forward to say that they need an additional appropriation. This is exactly that situation. That's why the government came back in August, and that's why we've come back again...
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 11)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, it's not entirely going back five years. I don't recall just off the top of my head if it's going back two years or going back three. But okay, here we are. So it's covering 20212022 through to 20252026. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 11)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, I am just trying to confirm if there was I believe under the SEED directive it would be sorry, it's a SEED directive, and it's still open and available until March 31st of this year. Thank you.
Debates of
, 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 11)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, in 2022, the well, the actually, these aren't the detailed I have right in front of me here. Let me see, if I could just have a moment.
Sorry, so we're looking at breaking the amount down here that's before you, Mr. Chair. $475,000 is the request that's still remaining under the 2022 flood. There's been a number of previous budgetary requests. I should back up for a moment and note that the department isn't they're not appropriate as a base budget in order to do disaster response and recovery because obviously historical, you know, events vary wildly...
